A partnership with Aarunya to onboard women artisans, weavers and handicraft makers towards helping promote their products pan-India was announced on Monday by e-commerce platform Flipkart.
Aarunya is the brand name of Narayanpet district, which is famous for its handlooms and handicrafts. What started with a team of 10 women during the COVID-19 pandemic to help local women sell their specialised products, is now a full-fledged campaign to train other women on Kalamkari and Black paintings. Aarunya has secured funding from NABARD to conduct these training sessions, Flipkart said in a release on signing of a Terms of Understanding (ToU), for the partnership, in the presence of IT and Industries Minister K.T.Rama Rao.
This effort will be driven through Flipkart Samarth, which empowers rural communities by enabling access to the national market. The partnership will enable local artisans, handicraft makers from the region market their hallmark products such as Kalamkari, black paintings, fig jam and clay jewellery to millions of customers across India, the commerce firm said.
“Telangana continues to encourage its artisans and craftspersons to leverage modern retail and e-commerce for enhanced livelihoods and exposure... agreement with FlipkartSamarth will ensure our State's crafts have a national patronage,” the Minister tweeted.
The partnership provides a platform for capacity-building, enhancing and impacting rural livelihoods, especially for women. Such partnerships will be instrumental in driving the commercial and social development in the State by creating inclusive growth, he said in the release.
